Huggate / Wayrham / Thixendale

Summary

Duration	2½-3 hours
Distance	7 miles
Features	Very quiet route, contrasting countryside
Special Notes	Non-circular
Difficulty	Medium

Directions

Enter the village and walk along the street in the general direction of the church.

Pass through the village and note a footpath sign just past the last house (‘The Last Frontier’). You can take this path diagonally across the field, keeping the distant Glebe Farm straight ahead. If you are not too happy with the look of the bulls, you may choose to continue on the road a moment longer and turn left at the T-junction.

Either way, you will end up taking the single-track road up to Glebe Farm, then following the footpath sign to its left.

Continue to the next footpath sign, which takes you along the side of a field in the direction of Wold House Farm.

Follow the path for a while until you reach a gate. Go through this and turn left. You are walking along the top of an ancient earthwork, looking down into the dale.

The path slopes at the end into the dale, and then crosses over and up the other side.

Ideally keep to the right through the gate – it is a bit steep – but there is a gate further up the field which is on the right.

Keep on through the gate and eventually meet the farm road for Wold House Farm. Turn left.

You will shortly meet the road and turn right. This road will take you to the Wayrham picnic site if you keep essentially straight on. This is a pleasant stroll along a very quiet road – just watch out for errant cyclists.

Just past the picnic site, there is a footpath sign which leads you up to the main road (A166). Take care here as the traffic tends to let off steam after reaching the top of Garrowby hill. Cross over and slightly to your right is a signed path down into the dale on the North Yorkshire side.

Now the walk changes from being on high to following the bottom of the dales. Wild flowers, butterflies and other animals find a haven here in this rarely visited section of the walk.

Follow the dale bottom, through the shady section of the plantation.

Turn right at the fork in the plantation, then leave it behind once more. Further on , take the left fork after going through the gate at two dales merge.

The rest of the way is a gentle amble along the dale bottom . You will cross a stile and then go through a gate before finally reaching the road at Fotherdale. The road leads to Thixendale, which is a short way to your right.

If you do this on a hot summer’s morning, there will be no more welcome sight than Thixendale and the thought of a well deserved pint!